I might join as might be an interesting expirement to see how someone who literally knows NOTHING about the sport can do.

I could not name one player on the US team. Actually are the Americans even in the tourney?

I probably cant name more than two soccer players in the world...

that beckham dude (not sure if he still plays)and some Brazilian named Rolodingo or Ronaldo or something like that.

June 11 through July 11.

And yes, we're in the tourney. But just like any other year, we'll get through the group stage and then lose. Does Landon Donovan ring a bell? He used to play for the San Jose Earthquakes.

Oh, and for the record, Ronaldo is Portuguese. TMC's favorite neighbors

Thanks for the clarification and info Xbay.

No, never heard of Landon Donovan. Who is he?

Oh, so who is the brazilian guy I am thinking of? Well he PLAYED for Brazil, not positive he is actually Brazilian. It was like 8 years ago or something and I think he was considered one of the best in the world.

Only other soccer player I can think of is Pele... remember him as a kid.

Oh, and I read an article today in ESPN the mag on BART about some italian kid (cant remember his name) that was born and raised in New Jersey but plays for the Italian national team.

I might join as might be an interesting expirement to see how someone who literally knows NOTHING about the sport can do.

I could not name one player on the US team. Actually are the Americans even in the tourney?

I probably cant name more than two soccer players in the world...

that beckham dude (not sure if he still plays)and some Brazilian named Rolodingo or Ronaldo or something like that.

June 11 through July 11.

And yes, we're in the tourney. But just like any other year, we'll get through the group stage and then lose. Does Landon Donovan ring a bell? He used to play for the San Jose Earthquakes.

Oh, and for the record, Ronaldo is Portuguese. TMC's favorite neighbors

Thanks for the clarification and info Xbay.

No, never heard of Landon Donovan. Who is he?

Oh, so who is the brazilian guy I am thinking of? Well he PLAYED for Brazil, not positive he is actually Brazilian. It was like 8 years ago or something and I think he was considered one of the best in the world.

Only other soccer player I can think of is Pele... remember him as a kid.

Oh, and I read an article today in ESPN the mag on BART about some italian kid (cant remember his name) that was born and raised in New Jersey but plays for the Italian national team.

No problem.

I just brought Donovan up cause he's on the US team and used to play in San Jose when they were good. So I just thought maybe bringing up his name would ring a bell just in case you randomly heard his name somewhere while watching the ESPN or something.

Oh, I know who you're talking about. When Brazil won it's last World Cup... Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

And the Italian you're talking about is Giuseppe Rossi. Very young.. only 23, and very talented.

And yeah, the other kid you were thinking of is Giuseppe Rossi, was born in New Jersey, and his family still lives there, but he's playing here in Spain and will do for Italy in the world cup. One of the few italian guys I like...

bada wrote:So who do you guys think is going to win the whole thing? Who is even the favorite?

For me, I am going to pick Brazil to win it all. I have no idea if they are even good anymore ( I assume they always are pretty good), but whenever I have watched them, their "style" catches my eye.

To my uninformed soccer eye, most teams all look the same to me, but Brazil instantly has jumped out at me... so I am going to pick them because I "enjoy" watching them play.

Well, Brazil has to be considered a favorite, as always, although this team is not as "feel-good, free-flowing" team as other years (due to their HC. Dunga played in Italy for so long that he's changed the brazilian way a lil' bit and they play more european now).

Italy, the current champion, has to be considered a favorite as well, although they're gonna play awful football, but will be incredibly hard to beat. Up there in age as well, and that should hurt them.

Other than them, Argentina is always a favorite, considering the level of their players, but their coach hurts more than helps and had lots of trouble qualifying for the world cup, so there's that..

Germany is pretty similar to Italy, in that they always are among the best, even tho their team doesn't look (or play) like much...

Two teams nobody knows what they'll do are the Netherlands (LOADS of talent, but usually fall short) and England (who, I don't know why, is considered a favorite... and they have the talent, but I don't think the world cup comes at the best of times for most of their players).

And finally, Spain... we have all the talent in the world but never did anything with that. The difference for this year, and the reason we're considered a favorite, it's because we're the current champions of Europe, and haven't lost a single game in god knows how long (we lost to the USA in the Confederations Cup, and that's the only loss in more 3 or 4 years, I can't remember exactly).

As for surprising teams, you may want to consider Portugal (hasn't played well, and almost didn't qualified, but they have a Rodolingo of their own ) and, personally, I'd pick Serbia as the main surprise of the world cup, a team that has talent, a stout defense and one of the top coaches of the world cup (somebody I know very well, because he was the coach of my hometown team for several years, and has coaches several top teams in Spain for years, succesfully).